


Even If It Kills Me

by yaysunshine



Category: Hunter: The Vigil, Vampire: The Requiem, White Wolf, World of Darkness (Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-08 03:19:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6836974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaysunshine/pseuds/yaysunshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thirteen years ago, Andy Palmer made the worst mistake of his life—and only due to the unexpected intervention of an old friend did he manage to turn his life around and repair his relationship with his monster hunter family. But when his sister's daughter comes home a vampire, he finds he can't dodge the past any longer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: 1994

### Prologue: 1994

The Volkov house is a burned-out wreck, and Andy can’t help but worry that the whole thing is going to collapse in on them as he trails his sister Maria through the ruins. What she thinks she’s going to find here, he doesn’t know. Whoever—or _what_ ever killed their family’s longtime allies didn’t leave much.

Even having caught a glimpse of some of the bodies last night—his stomach turns at the memory—it's hard to think of them as gone. Hard to think that Vasily isn't going to pop up at any moment to rib him about keeping up in practice, that Vera won't walk up twirling a knife around her fingers with practiced ease. He doesn’t like the thought of anything that could take the twins out—let alone the rest of their family.

He’s told Maria that it might still be dangerous, that apart from the house falling down on them whoever killed the Volkovs might still be watching, but she’s a woman on a mission. And it’s not like Andy’s ever been able to stop her from doing anything she’s set her mind to.

“It’s not _here_ , where is it,” she mutters, kicking her boots through the ashes. “It has to be…”

“Masha—“ He jogs after her, resisting the temptation to ask if she’s okay. He knows she’s not. Still, though, he puts a hand on her shoulder. Maybe for once he can actually act like an older brother to her. “Masha, what are you looking for? Let me help.”

She shakes her head. “I… I lent Vera something, recently. My St. Michael medallion.” She doesn’t meet his eyes. He nods, slowly. That medallion was the most important thing to her—given to her when she’d been sworn in to the hunter life at fourteen. Of course she’d have given it to _her_. “Was kinda hoping I’d find it. Or, I don’t know, maybe I’m hoping I _don’t_ find it. Since…” Her mouth twitches. “Since they weren’t even able to positively ID her… her body.”

“Yeah…” Part of him wants to believe that maybe Vera’s still out there, hiding somewhere, but he’s never been that much of an optimist. But he nods, for his sister’s benefit. “Yeah, maybe.”

Maria punches him on the arm, but there’s no real force behind it. “You don’t have to play along,” she says, squinting up at what’s left of the stairs. “I know she’s probably…” Her lip twists; she blinks a few too many times. “I know how it goes. Too many family funerals to not.” She kicks a foot through the ashes. “Hard to tell, but I hope they got as good as they gave, anyway.”

“Can’t see it going any other way,” says Andy, giving her shoulder a light squeeze. He walks over to the stairs, and puts a foot on the first step to test it out. It wobbles worryingly. “I’m not sure we’re going to be able to get up there.”

“I figured.” Maria sighs. “I just wish—” She crouches down, sifting idly through the debris. This must have been the living room; the phone, left off the hook, hangs off the edge of a heavily-charred table next to her. “I just wish we’d gotten here in time. We could have saved them.”

Andy tenses, a knot tightening in the pit of his stomach. _Maybe_ , he thinks. But someone or something that could take out all the Volkovs—what chance would they have stood against that? It might have just ended with the cops finding _their_ bodies here, too.

He should probably be reacting like Maria—wanting to find the culprits, wanting to fight back. Instead he just wants to run. Maybe Maria would have come out all right, but she was born for this. Him—well, maybe with the family’s numbers on his side, but he’s never been cut out for this. And what happens if someone goes for the Palmers next?

Not for the first time he wishes he’d been born into a _normal_ family—one without the shadow of sudden death or fates-worse-than constantly looming. He knows his dad would clap a hand on his shoulder and tell him that’s true for everyone, that the Palmer family is just better prepared and therefore has a few extra responsibilities to their neighbors. It’s one thing to say that, though, and another thing completely to come face-to-face with what it means in practice.

He follows her through to the living room, brushes his fingers over the frame of the sofa. He was here last week. He _sat_ here, he’s pretty sure, while Vera looked over his shoulder at his song lyrics and Vasily and Maria played foosball.

His shoe catches on something in the ashes, and he crouches down to see what it is. Andy can see Maria turn, eyes questioning, but it's nothing of hers. No, they both know who this belonged to—the thin, slightly curved knife with the special hand-holds. Gingerly, she takes it from him, turns it over in her hands.

“This was Vaska’s,” she says, quietly, after a moment. Her lip twitches downward for a moment as she uses her fiancé’s nickname. It was an arranged marriage, to formalize an alliance between the two hunter familes—but she’d cared about him, in her own way. She studies the blade, covered in a dull red stain. Blood. “Well—I’d say whatever bastard got him is going to have a wicked scar, but the bloodsuckers can heal, so maybe not. But he’d be glad to have gone out fighting.”

She stands there for a moment, casting her eyes around the ground nearby, and he knows what she’s thinking— _where was Vera, wouldn’t Vera have been with him_ —but after a few seconds she sighs, and tucks the knife into her bag.

“C’mon, Dyusha,” she says, borrowing the Volkov twins’ nickname for him. “This was… this was stupid, anyway. We’d better get out of here before this whole place falls in on us.”

She’s made up her mind; she turns on the ball of her foot and marches back to the car. It’s Andy who looks back—a shiver running down his spine like someone walked over his grave—before he picks up his feet and jogs after her.

Death has always loomed like a shadow over the Palmer family—no hunter dies of old age. The ruined house behind him is his past, his present, and his future, and all that remains for him to find out is when his number’s going to come up.


	2. Chapter One: 2015

### Chapter One: 2015

Maria's been up all night worrying, pacing back and forth across the living room as if that'll make Amity get back any faster. Worry comes easily to most parents; it comes even easier when you’re the matriarch of Las Vegas’s oldest hunter family and know _exactly_ what lurks out there. Which means that Andy's been sitting up with her the whole time, even though his wife's been in bed for hours. Maria being on edge makes him nervous in turn. She's got the dangerous look in her eye that makes him think she might do something crazy.

He's been trying to reassure her— _she can take care of herself, a girl her age should be out all night anyway, we used to do that_ —but hour after hour goes by and she still isn't home, and he starts to think that his sister might be right to worry.

After all, that's how it started with him.

He's just gone to the kitchen to fetch another cup of coffee for each of them when the door creaks open and there's the sound of footsteps in the front hallway. He could about collapse in relief—no reason for anyone to do anything crazy tonight, and he can finally join Susanna in bed, for another thing.

Well, after Maria finishes her scolding, which he can already hear starting from two rooms away.

"Amity Euphemia Palmer, where have you—mother _fucker_!"

He hasn't kept up with the training for years now, but hearing the stern tone of his younger sister's voice give way to alarm, he doesn't hesitate. Coffee splatters across the floor in his wake, but, shit, Masha doesn't just yell like that over nothing. And he promised someone a long time ago that he wasn't going to fuck up this second chance with his family.

He skids across the wood floor to the hallway and his heart sinks into his stomach.

The creature Maria’s struggling to pin to the wall looks a lot like her daughter, Amity. Except for the fact that she's got claws and fangs and snarls at her mother like a starved animal out for blood—because that's what she is, now.

_Vampire_. He freezes in place. For a moment he's transfixed by a sudden memory of longing, of feeling more alive than _alive_ —but he grits his teeth and shakes his head. Ten years he's been clean; he can deal for ten more minutes. He yells across the room: "What do you need?"

"Get my handcuffs from my work bag!" Maria yells back over her shoulder. Her voice carries a note of strain that sounds _weird_ coming from her. "You can just— _ugh_ , stop that, Amity—toss them to me. And then..." She trails off, her expression distant, before she shakes her head, back in the present. "Then we'll figure out what to do next."

It only takes a few seconds for him to find a pair of handcuffs in Maria's duffel by the stairs, but even the few seconds of distraction are welcome. From the possible meaning of _what to do next_ , from another day ahead of worrying how close he is to falling off the wagon. "Here!" he calls, and tosses them in a wide arc. Maria catches them one-handed, snapping them into place around her daughter's wrists in one motion.

Then, with one shoulder still pinning Amity against the wall, she turns to look at him and starts sobbing.

And all he can think in that moment is _if I'm the one who needs to hold it together for everyone, we're all fucked_.

* * *

"What next" ends up being a bizarre parody of a family dinner. He and Maria sit across the dining table from each other, watching Amity messily devour a bowl of defrosted bait blood from the freezer.

Maria keeps reassuring him that she's fine without prompting, which of course means she's absolutely not fine. The rest of the time she's adding items to a to-do list, which is already onto page two. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Or something like that.

"I should—I should call Danielle, she'll know what to do. Shawn's one of the guys who takes new vampires in," she says, tapping the end of her pen against the paper. "Shit, though, I'm not sending her in there by herself. Even if the Remingtons are there, bless 'em, it's not the same. We're going to have to go too."

Andy manages to not spit his coffee across the table, but just barely. "I—we're what?"

Maria fixes him with that narrow-eyed look of hers that means _no arguing_. "Look, I'm not letting her go without me. Are you with me or not, Dyusha?”

"O-of course I am," he says, with just the smallest hesitation, even though his head is saying _no no no no no_. Bad enough that the Remingtons will be here, that there'll be vampires in and out of the house all the time. But a whole room full of them?

And— _oh, shit_.

"Are you, uh, sure this is even necessary, though?" he goes on, making it up as he goes along. Some excuse, any excuse—if she goes, she's going to find out, and all hell's going to break loose. "Maybe, you know, they have some mail-in option. Or FaceTime, or something."

"Naw, I'm told the so-called King is a stickler for getting to meet his new subjects in person," says Maria. "I guess—well, I guess I should call her, then. Best to set this up as fast as possible. And unlike me, it's _normal_ for her to be up at this godforsaken hour, at least. Watch Amity?"

She doesn't wait for an answer and wanders off to make the phone call. And then it's just Amity, who is slowly coming back to her senses as she laps pathetically at the bowl of blood.

Amity looks up at him, and the wildness is gone—almost. She hasn't eaten enough to _not_ be hungry, and her eyes linger a little too long on his neck. "Your mom's going to make it okay," he says, lamely. Her mom, who has no idea what kind of danger she's exposed both of them to, leaving them alone. Amity, who is young and confused and probably doesn't even know enough to say no if he asked her for a drink in exchange for some fresh blood. And him, so fucking pathetic that after ten years he'd still consider risking getting torn apart by a teenager for a fix.

The call is short, though, and Maria returns after only a few uncomfortable minutes. "Danielle's on her way over," she says, leaning heavily on the table with her free hand. "Probably with Shawn; she didn't mention, but I just sort of assume with those two that they come in pairs. How're you holding up, kiddo?"

Amity lifts her head, a baleful look on her face. "Moooo _ooom_ ," she says, "I feel like _garbage_. And this is _gross_."

Maria leans over to ruffle her hair—with just the slightest bit of visible caution in her movements. "I know, Amity, I'm sorry. It's what we've got for now, though. Aunt Danielle and Uncle Shawn are coming over, at least; that'll be nice, right?"

The kid looks skeptical, but after a moment nods. Then there's a pause. "I'm a vampire now, aren't I," she says.

Maria's mouth twists slightly, but she forces it into the mold of a smile. "Yeah, but you ain't the first in this family. We'll get this figured out."

Andy crosses his arms and leans on the table. "Should I wake up Sue and George?"

"Please," says Maria, rubbing her temples. "I'm sure Danielle will insist that I get some sleep, too, so I'm going to put more coffee on."

He squints up at her. "Isn't that going make it _impossible_ to sleep?"

"Exactly. You want some, too?"

He _should_ get some sleep. Take a few hours and get away from all this vampire shit, clear his head. But he can't just check out, not at a time like this.

"Sure," he says.

* * *

Danielle arrives with Shawn in tow, and immediately pulls both Amity and Maria into a hug. "I am _so, so sorry_. This really sucks," she says. "But your Mom and I are gonna get the bastard, okay? And we're going to take care of you."

She looks up and mouths to Masha: "It wasn't Ruby, was it?"

Maria draws her mouth into a thin line, and shrugs. She mouths back: "No clue."

There's fire in Danielle's eyes--not unlike Maria in a rage. She never wanted to be a vampire, he knows. And for a long time what kept her going was Ruby Madison's promise that the Ordo Dracul might be able to undo most of it.

Ruby Madison was a real hell of a liar. And Andy's the only one here who knows she's been dead for years. The feeling of the blood bond breaking was unmistakable, even from miles away, locked in the bathroom in the middle of the night, not sure what would happen if he let the dots connect on what _taking care of it_ meant. He'd cried, and he'd laughed, and then both at once, and then the next morning he'd told Maria that he was officially leaving things to her.

No, it hadn't been Ruby. The only time she came around these days was haunting his dreams on the bad nights. Had to be some other poor idiot who had no idea what they'd started.

"Jesus Christ," mutters Sue, leaning over onto his shoulder and warming her hands around a fresh mug of coffee. "Let me tell you, this was one hell of a surprise to wake up to. I go to bed for five fuckin' hours..."

He combs his fingers idly through her hair and thinks about how close he was to losing this. "You're telling me," he says, and half-smiles in spite of himself. "Wasn't any less surprising even _with_ all the lead-up."

Shawn takes a chair next to her, and nods sympathetically to the two of them. "Hey," he says. "Good to see you guys again, even if the circumstances are..." He shrugs.

"Abjectly shitty?" Sue says, without skipping a beat, and they all share a brief, bleak laugh.

"It's not always so bad," says Shawn, leaning back in his chair and spreading out like he owns the place—not unlike Vaska, really, except more easygoing. "But I figure it sucks a lot more if you're not, uh, expecting it, I guess."

Shawn might understand, if he told him. He might even let Andy— _get a grip, Dyusha_.

Andy stands abruptly, shaking his head. "I'm going to go get some fresh air. Be back in a bit."

He can feel Shawn's questioning eyes on his back, and Danielle turn to look at him as he passes, too. He's pretty sure they think he doesn't like them, or has something against vampires, considering how he usually tries to be out when they're here. It's probably for the best, though. Besides, they've got Masha.

Outside, he rummages for his lighter and his stash of cigs. He's been trying to cut back, especially since Sue insists it's a bad example for Jonas, but it's better than the alternative. He has to click the old thing a couple times before it finally lights, but then—

There's a rustling in the bushes like someone jumping back in alarm, and Andy squints into the darkness. He holds up the lighter and starts inching back toward the door. "Uh... is someone out there?"

A figure lunges out of the darkness at him, barreling out of the bushes headfirst. Andy dodges—just barely, and he has to thank his parents for the reflexes drilled into him from day one. He manages to hold onto the lighter, too, and brandishes it in front of him like a shield; there's no doubt about who this is. It has to be Amity's sire.

" _Masha_!" he yells, as loud as he can, and hopes she can hear him. Ever since he gave up leadership of the family he's been on light duty; he hasn't been in a fistfight in years.

The other guy swears and looks like he's preparing to double-down. Andy balls the lighter in his fist and falls back on instinct, swinging around in a haymaker to the vampire's face.

To his surprise, it connects, knocking the guy--surprisingly bland-looking, for a creature of the night--off his intended path and half-over the porch railing. Just in time, too, as Masha and the others come piling out the door, weapons in hand.

Sue drops her baseball bat and throws her arms around his neck as the others go surround the mystery vampire. "God, I thought--fuck, if they got both you and Amity in one night? I don't know what I'd do."

"Probably kick his ass for me," he says, grinning.

She punches him lightly on the shoulder. "You didn't do half bad yourself," she says. "You sure this isn't really your bag?"

"Like I told you," he says, turning to watch Maria and the Remingtons go back in to the house carrying the guy's staked body, "I didn't really have a choice growing up." He shrugs, and goes looking for his cigs again. "Starting to think Mom and Dad might have been right, though. One way or another, there's not really an opt-out." Maybe if he hadn't let Ruby into his life, there might have been. But definitely not anymore.

Eventually everything comes back around, no matter how you run from it, he thinks. His number's just come up at last.

* * *

Sue eventually insists that he go to bed, since she and George can take the day shift, and he's glad to have the excuse of someone else telling him what to do. Shawn and Amity are sleeping, too, but Danielle's still puttering around with Masha, making plans, and Andy's not sure how long he can take it.

But for a long time he just lies there in the dark with the curtains closed. He's still jittery from the coffee, but there's also a knot of panic starting to tighten in his chest.

This is all supposed to be over--it should have been over a long time ago. And, worse, now it's also going to come crashing down on the head of someone he owes a big favor to.

She hadn't left him any contact information—she'd said that she'd be able to find him whenever, that she kept an eye out, but there isn't enough _time_. Maria's prepared to crash Court _tonight_.

In some ways it feels like a long time coming. Even though he understands most out of anyone why she'd want to stay hidden, he's thought about telling Maria more than once. He still hasn't—because he promised, and also because he's pretty sure Masha would do something even crazier than what she's doing now. But it's hard to forget that she'd _want_ to know, every time there's a lull in the conversation.

Maybe he can get in there early and case the place, try and track her down. After all, he can do a pretty damn good job of pretending to be a ghoul. Too good, though--considering he used to _be_ one--and therein lies the danger. So easy to slip back into bad habits.

He wishes Sue was here, and at the same time he's glad she isn't. If all this comes out, there's no way Masha won't make him tell her, too. If there's anyone with a right to hate him for it, it's her.

Somewhere in all that worrying he manages to worry himself into a fitful sleep. His dreams are full of faces long-gone, walking through a heavy mist. Vera and Vasily Volkov, their childhood friends, disappear into the mist and only Vera walks back out to rejoin him.

"We should go join them," she says, gesturing to the mist. He can make out more faces over there--his parents. Aunt Lupe. Ruby.

"No," he says, brow furrowing. "I don't think we're supposed to go over there."

She gestures back behind them. There stands Maria, arms crossed, Amity at her side looking ill. Sue's holding the baseball bat again and weeping. George shrugs. The Remingtons ready weapons. They're all pointed at him. Jonas hides behind them.

"You've still got it as bad for the blood as you did ten years ago, and that won't change," Vera says. "It'll never leave you."

"Yeah," he says, studying Maria's face. "But I think what changed is that I love my family more than I fear them."

"Good," says Vera, and he wakes up.

George is reading Popular Mechanics in the dining room when he emerges. "Good sleep?"

"I _think_ so, anyway," says Andy. The dream is fading, but the ending sticks with him. He'd never thought of it that way before, that he'd been _afraid_ —of disappointing his parents, of letting people down. When exactly he stopped being scared he isn't sure, but it's something to hold onto. He sits down next to his brother. "How are _you_ holding up?"

George shrugs, like he does about nearly everything. He’s always been the mellow one—maybe to make up for Andy and Maria being his two older siblings. "Things keep going, don't they?" he said. "Could be worse, I guess."

Andy nods to himself. He can think of a _lot_ of ways it could be worse. "Yeah," he says. "Yeah."

* * *

Maria and Danielle have laid out the basement like a war room, with lists and maps and backup plans. There's also the discomfiting figure of Amity's staked sire in the corner, handcuffed to a chair, missing an ear and a hand.

"Danielle said it might be good to bring him in with us," says Masha, noticing him staring. "And that it might look 'overly aggressive' and 'threatening' if I just brought in a bag of ashes. Or something."

"And the King doesn't like just anyone killing vampires," adds Danielle. “Likes to handle the executions himself.”

Masha spreads her hands in surrender. "Whatever, I already agreed to this, but we're not going to pretend like I care about what this 'King' likes. They all celebrated when the Volkovs were massacred in their home twenty years ago.”

“I think Masha’s right,“ Andy hears himself saying. “We _shouldn’t_ care what the bastards who killed the Volkovs want. We kill him, we show them what we _could_ be doing to all of them but aren’t. Show them why they want us to _continue_ playing nice, if we’re not going to go to outright war.”

Masha and Danielle both stare at him. "Well," says Maria. " _That_ was surprisingly aggressive, coming from you. I'm not complaining, mind you."

It's selfish. It's completely selfish and it might put them all in danger if they just kill this guy and then waltz into Court. But he can't slip up, not now. He keeps going: "And Amity's had some of his blood, probably. We can't risk this King guy staying his hand and keeping him around with that kind of liability. Right?"

Danielle frowns at him, but then turns to Masha for direction. "What do you think?"

Maria chews on her lower lip in thought. "You've got some good points, Dyusha. They're never going to love us, so they might as well fear us, maybe." She raises an eyebrow. "You sound like you're getting back in the game."

He crosses his arms and leans against the wall. "Well, you know. This time it's... close to home, I guess."

"Literally." Maria looks back at the vampire in the corner. "Mr. Jones, Mr. Jones, what are we going to do with you."

Andy studies the luckless vampire. "Is that his name? What's his deal, anyway?"

"Uriel Jones, yeah. Apparently I killed his vampire dad a few years back and he was out for revenge." Maria combs a hand backwards through her hair. "What an idiot. You know I asked him who killed the Volkovs and he said it was Dan Buckley?"

Andy freezes like a deer in the headlights. "Uh," he says, finally. "Yeah, ha ha, that's ridiculous. Good thing he's actually in with us."

"Yeah, at least we know they _don't_ know about our people on the inside,” Maria goes on. "Well, you're definitely right that this guy's a liability for as long as he's around. If we leave justice to someone else there's no guarantee we'll get what we want. Hm. Well, we've still got a lot of hours until sunset to make decisions."

"Yeah." Andy shrugs, and tries not to look at Jones. Who's right there, and staked, and will probably be dead soon, so what's the harm? Except he knows exactly what the harm is. He crosses his arms, and uncrosses them, and nods. "I'm... I'm going to go back upstairs. Let you guys keep working. Let me know if you need anything."

Masha salutes him. "Will do," she says, and Danielle just nods.

* * *

He's not surprised when Danielle finds him later, after Maria’s finally been convinced to go to bed. She takes the seat across the couch from him in the living room and sits there for a few moments in silence before speaking.

"You don't like us," she says. "That's fine. But you're going to have to dial it back, for Amity's sake."

"That's—I like you guys fine," he says, looking out the window. Or he would be looking out the window, if they weren't covered in heavy curtains right now. "I just, uh..."

"Hate vampires?"

He scowls. "You're putting words in my mouth," he says. "Anyway, when I was a kid, I always wanted you to like me, you know. Even though it was obvious you liked Masha more. Which was fair. Everyone did."

"Well, don't take it out on Shawn, at least." She sighs. "You're not even going to look at me, are you."

"I—" He grips the fabric of the couch arm tightly with one hand. "It's nothing against either of you. You're fine. I just _can't_ be around you. Jesus, we're family, just—trust me. It's better for everyone." He pauses. "Can you talk Masha out of going? You might be able to."

She laughs, lightly. "You know as well as I do there's no talking Maria out of something once she's decided on it."

He shakes his head. "Forget I asked. I should have figured. I'm going for a smoke. Maybe I'll take a bit of a walk.” No vampires outside in the daytime sun.

Before he leaves, though, he turns for one last thing. "Look--sorry. It's just the way I am. Don't read too much into it."

He doesn't think she believes him, but at least for a couple hours there's fresh air and sunshine and he can forget that all of this exists.

* * *

It's the first time in years he's been kitted out like this, Kevlar vest, weapons, everything. "I don't even know what I'd do with half of this."

"Stand there and let me grab them off your belt if I run out," says Maria, grinning grimly from ear to ear. She's got a paper bag in one hand containing the remains of one Uriel Jones. He'd been relieved to find out she decided to kill him after all while he was gone. One less temptation.

"We're not _going_ to get in a fight if we don't have to," says Danielle. "Besides, Shawn and Buckley and I'll have your backs."

He's still not sure how the hell he's going to find her before everything starts happening. He could ask Shawn, but he and Danielle tell each other everything, and Danielle tells _Maria_ everything.

Well, in the Palmer family tradition, he's probably just going to wing it. And in his own tradition, he will probably fuck it up, but at least he'll be able to say he tried.

The Remingtons leave first, in their own car, since they've got their vampire jobs to be doing. So it's Andy and Maria and Amity in the van, with Sue and George holding down the fort. Sue asked if she should come, too, but he assured her he'd be fine. Whether things _are_ fine or not, he doesn't want her involved in this.

He can at least pretend he's protecting _her_ , for once.

Maria's going over everything Amity's going to need to do. "Don't give away any information you don't need to, but be polite. Not _friendly_ , though, these guys are sharks."

"Okay, so... what exactly _can_ I say?" asks Amity, leaning forward from the back seats.

"Hm. Well, your name's fine," says Maria, and she's smiling at least, even if it's the kind of smile that's out for blood. "Maybe not your full name, though. They might also be wizards."

"Mom!"

It feels almost normal. It sounds like any other mild argument that they might have had as a family—except that now Amity's undead and they all may be going off to die for good.

Well, except Maria. She's always the one who manages to get out clean, isn't she?

He looks back over at Maria. "Anything I should do? I don't even know if there's anything I'll be _able_ to do."

"You're doing something very important," she says, staring straight ahead, eyes on the road. "You're here to stop me from doing anything really fucking crazy for no reason. And also because—out of everyone you're the one I'd most want to be there if things get weird, I guess."

He grins, and looks back out the window. "Well, at least you've got Danielle and Shawn for backup."

She punches him on the shoulder. "Shut up. They're family, but you'll always be my big brother."

"Yeah." He tries to smile. It's a nice sentiment, but what happens if she finds out? "Well, whatever happens, I'll be with you."

"You're both making this sound _really dire_ ," says Amity, squinting at both of them. "You all keep telling me things are going to be okay and then acting like this. I'm—like, I'm already dead? It's really not okay?"

Maria brakes hard and pulls over. "You are not—" She pauses, and takes a deep breath. "Sorry. This is just—I wasn't prepared for this. It's not okay, yeah. And it's going to be hardest for you, Amity, but I just want... I just want you to know we're going to try and _make_ it as okay as possible for you."

She glances over at Andy and he looks back at Amity and nods. He hopes he looks more confident than he feels.

* * *

Court turns out to be the Aviary casino. Not surprising, considering vampires own what seems like half the casinos in this town. He feels underdressed in the party crowd—especially since unlike his sister, he doesn't have a police badge to flash—but that anxiety is easily eclipsed by all the other things hanging over his head.

He scans the crowd, looking for that one familiar face. (Hopefully she hasn't changed her hair again.) "You'd think they'd meet somewhere, you know, a little more out of plain sight?"

Maria shrugs, keeping one hand on Amity's shoulder. (Amity, who is just old enough to even be _in_ here, and will now always and forever get carded.) "I guess there's enough flashy stuff going on to cover all the weird stuff that happens. That, and, you know, vampire mind control or whatever."

"...Right."

The first familiar face they see isn't the one he was hoping for, though. Buckley's standing ahead of them in the hallway, arms crossed. Andy feels himself tense up. He's got to work on that, he thinks, especially since it's going to be all vampires all the time from here on out.

Then again, Maria doesn't know what he knows about Buckley. She, of course, has always had nerves of steel when it comes to this, and already has planted her hands on her hips. "You're not talking me out of this."

Buckley sighs. "No, I'm sure I'm not. Danielle already warned me about you. Just don't blame it on me when this all goes south." His eyes stop on Andy, curious. "Haven't seen you in a while, Andy."

Andy doesn't meet his eyes, and tucks his hands in his pockets. "Well, you know, special occasion. I at least try and come out for weddings, funerals, and changes in metaphysical state."

Maria gives him a weird look—surprised to hear him being so glib toward Buckley, maybe, but shakes her head. "Anyway, I'd prefer to get this over with as quickly as possible, so if there's no holdup...?"

"What are you going to do?" asks Buckley, with a skeptical raise of an eyebrow.

"Didn't Danielle tell you?" she says, patting Amity on the shoulder. "I'm going to make sure she gets acknowledged. I'm not here to start a fight, Buckley."

"Riiiiight." He gives a long glance to the paper bag in Maria's other hand, clearly disbelieving. "Well, good fucking luck."

She points a finger at him as they pass. "Language around the children, Buckley."

"Like you don't do it constantly, Palmer."

"I'm the mom, I make the rules." She gives him her best shit-eating grin. "Catch you on the flip side, Buckley. With any luck we'll all still be alive for it."

The ballroom reserved for the vampires is spacious and mostly tastefully-decorated—except for here and there it looks like a flock of magpies lives in it, with small glittery baubles scattered around the room. No accounting for taste.

Vampires seem to be a mixed bag, too. Despite his time with Ruby, he hasn't met that many of them--she wasn’t acknowledged, after all, and was trying to avoid notice. There's a couple men in lab coats, a tall blonde who looks like she stepped out of old-timey Hollywood, a fellow in a priest's collar. And--

A woman bumps into him—about Maria's height, bright blonde, dressed in what looks like a military flight suit, and he does a double-take. No, it's not the one he's looking for, that's not even how she looks anymore. But then his eyes land on the woman trailing the blonde—the one with the short-cropped black hair and the scars criss-crossing her face.

Exactly like she looked the last time he saw her ten years ago.

They both lock eyes and freeze—only for a split second, though, because Maria's soldiering ahead. Still, though, he catches her eye, and he sees her gaze fall on Maria, a look of dawning horror on her face.

_Well_ , he thinks, _at least now she knows_.


End file.
